All of us are cancerous all the time. So, why is it that some of us lose control over the regulation of our mutated cells, but most don't?  With auto-immune disease, the body is attacking itself; it doesn't take a spiritual adept to recognize the metaphysical symbolism and implication of such situations.

And, speaking meta-psychologically, is it any accident that, in a culture where the influence of a rampant social dis-ease like the sexual objectification of women is so pervasive, there is also a preponderance of breast cancer?

Life is about balance. Most of us live out of balance, both literally and metaphorically. In some ways, that's not a completely bad thing, for, as Buddha said, "Too pure water has no fish."

It is when that imbalance is extreme, however, that we invite disease - mental, physical, social and spiritual. And it is when we maintain that imbalance through our thoughts and actions that we contribute to the maintenance, rather than the redress, of that dis-ease.

My friend Paul Green has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. He has vowed to "Neva Surrenda" and, at 84, is at the club every day, rowing and working out with a personal trainer -- while a 32 year old elite athlete whom I treat, diagnosed with recurring/remitting MS, is literally falling apart. What's the difference? Attitude.

Mr. Green has taken it upon himself to address his condition at all levels -- most importantly, psycho-spiritually and with an eye toward brain plasticity. Rather than adopting a poverty mentality, of "look what I have lost", he is choosing the path of abundance and declaring out loud, "Look what I have."

He is choosing to, quite literally, walk through his disease and to do things that even a healthy 84 year old - which also speaks to his attitude about aging, not just disease -- would find difficult, never mind one in the grips of a debilitating psychomotor muscular dystrophy. And, in that walking through, he is coming out on the other side.

My patient, on the other hand, has surrendered to her illness. She has given it the power to control her and it is wreaking havoc on her body and her mind. She has stopped running, which she did not need to do. She has stopped working out, which she did not need to do. She has spun herself into a state of depression that her physical disease is feeding on like a school of piranha. She has stopped caring...which is exactly what she needs to do.

Western medicine treats disease from the outside in and, for this reason, it is incomplete. This is true not only of physical medicine, but of psychiatry and psychology, as well. Disease, dysfunction and disorder of any sort, also needs to be treated from the inside out. If you take a look at the regimen that Mr. Green has put together, you will see one version of what that might look like.

If we consider a disease like Lupus, which is an autoimmune disease that involves recurring and remitting swelling of the joint tissues, we see that it is triggered by the activation of a particular enzyme. Not all of us carry this enzyme, but why is it that only a portion of the people who do carry the enzyme become symptomatic?

To that same point, why is it that my good friend Lizzie has been HIV positive since 1982 - long before most people in this country even knew what HIV/AIDS was - and is still, to this day, asymptomatic. Not "healthy on her meds", not "doing well" - flat out, no reservations, not a peep, a-symp-to-ma-tic!

We return to Mr. Green - because state of mind influences state of body. The mind is an incredibly powerful thing and if we choose to employ it as a tool for healing and maintaining health it is the best defense we have against that which ails us.

This conversation is not just about Big Disease, either. It's about everyday wellness. When we believe that we are strong and healthy, we will be. When we believe that we can shed the shackles of a disease that is wracking our body, we will. And when we undertake to support that attitude -- through physical activity, a spiritual life, meditation, a reduction of stress, establishing sacred space in our lives, our homes and our relationships, through an on-going investment in our whole self -- we are stronger - and healthier -- for it.

You're thinking...power of positive thinking...blah, blah, blah. Not so much - we're talking, yet again, about neuroplasticity. If you can lower your heart rate, restructure synaptic connections or change your brain wave state just by thinking about it, why can't you flush a rhinovirus (common cold) from your system or speed the healing of a bone? Why can't you keep your cancer in remission just by deciding that you will? If you can deflect the ravages of Parkinson's or MS, Alzheimer's or ALS by exercising your internal process, why not do it?

Do you really believe that Steven Hawking remains with us simply through his medical treatment? He is using that magnificent brain of his for more than just thinking about quarks and strange attractors. Do you really believe that Kevin Everett walked into Ralph Wilson Stadium under his own power just because of the fancy new hypothermic intervention they used on his spine? No - he decided that he was going to do it.

We can either be victims or volunteers. We can live in poverty and choose to see our lives as a state of the world impacting us, or we can live in abundance and choose to see our lives as us impacting the world. And the world that we create for ourselves begins with our interior landscape - mind, body, soul, spirit.

Paul will not surrender. Will you?